Previously, many types of sun visors have been used to provide an effective means for shading a vehicle""s driver and passengers from the sun or other reflective sources. Most automobiles and trucks available today provide opaque sun visors as standard equipment. Prior art has attempted to extend the utility of these standard sun visors by adding a transparent auxiliary visor beneath or at the side of the existing visors. The reason for this addition is that while most visors typically perform adequately, it is sometimes desirable to possess a tinted transparent visor through which a driver may see but that can also reduce intense light and bright glare.
Attempts to achieve this utility have included clip-on glare screens that pivot or slide downward beneath the visor. Other devices position a screen inside the visor which can be pulled down, or add a side section that can slide horizontally from the visor. These basic attempts fill some of the need, however, they are for the most part unsightly or too complex in construction and operation to be satisfactory to the vast majority of users.
A search of the prior art did not disclose nay patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,275 discloses a housing attached to a visor with three auxiliary shields that may be withdrawn from slots in the visor.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,176 discloses a visor extension unit that is releasably attachable to a standard sun visor. The unit includes a lateral visor extension panel which is movable through a horizontal guide passage in the visor extension unit so as to effectively increase the windshield area blocked on either side of the sun visor. A glare shield is movable through a separate pocket formed in the extension unit.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,255 discloses a sun visor which has a retractable sun screen. The screen is folded or rolled up into the visor for deployment beside the front window as well as the windshield.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention relates reference may be made to the remaining cited patents.
In its most basic design, the vehicle auxiliary sun visor assembly is comprised of a pivot rod having a vertical section and a contiguous horizontal section. The assembly also comprises an auxiliary visor which has an upper edge, a lower edge, an inner edge and an outer edge. There are at least two vertical hinged brackets which have means for being rotatably attached to the vertical section of the pivot rod, and means for being rigidly attached to the inner edge of the auxiliary visor. Additionally, there are at least two horizontal hinged brackets which have means for being rotatably attached to the horizontal section of the pivot rod, and means for being rigidly attached to the vehicle sun visor.
The auxiliary vehicle sun visor assembly is designed to be rotatably placed and secured in a stowed position, or the assembly can be rotated around the horizontal section of the pivot rod to be placed in a downward position, which would cause the auxiliary visor to be directly in front of a person using the assembly. If desired, the assembly can also be rotated around the vertical section of the pivot rod and placed in a side position, which would cause the auxiliary visor to be located to the left of a driver. The assembly can also be attached to the vehicle sun visor located on the passenger side. This is accomplished by removing the horizontal hinged brackets from the horizontal section of the pivot rod, rotating the brackets 180xc2x0, and re-inserting the brackets into the horizontal rod.
In view of the above disclosure, the primary object of the invention is to provide additional sun/glare blocking ability to conventional vehicle sun visors. Whereas a conventional visor can only block the area above the lowest plane of the visor, the auxiliary vehicle sun visor can causes the area that is blocked to significantly increase, thereby allowing better visibility when needed.
It is also an object to provide an auxiliary vehicle sun visor that:
is easy to install and use as an after market vehicle product,
can be made in a variety of sizes to fit different vehicles,
can be used on either a driver""s-side sun visor or a passenger""s side sun visor,
is maintenance free, and only requires occasional wiping to clean,
can be quickly removed and placed in another vehicle,
can provide a substantial amount of additional safety for drivers/passengers and pedestrians/other vehicles on the road,
is cost effective from both a manufacturer""s and consumer""s point of view, and
can be easily packaged, transported and displayed for sale.